The Simpell Voyagers
by Katameran
Summary: Prince Simpell and his humble manservant - Einstein - set off in search of adventure. They meet many very well-known fairy tale characters..we pray for all their souls. PG for one or two minor swears.
1. The beginning

The Simpell Voyagers

Disclaimer: Everything in this prologue belongs to me. Steal my stuff and I'll be offended, not flattered. Ask permission, I might grant it. ; o)

A/N: Forgive the short beginning. Following chapters should be longer.

Once upon an eon, in a faraway land, there was a prince. He was called Prince Simpell. His father ruled over the Land, and was generally a good king, but he grew old, as some people tend to do. 

Well, I guess all people eventually grow old, unless they do a cartwheel every day, but the king didn't know how – wait, even if you _do_ do a cartwheel every day, you'll just grow old and break something, especially if you have ostioper – shoot, I'm the narrator, I'm can't babble on like this. You know what? Back to the story. 

Anyway, the king grew old and decided to pass on the throne to his son, the prince. No, it was not prince Simpell, for he was the younger son. The throne was instead passed to Prince Lucid. 

Upon receiving this news, prince Simpell thought over his place in the scheme of things very carefully. He pondered the situation for the better part of two hours. His humble manservant, Einstein, began to wonder if his master wasn't sick. Einstein couldn't recall the Prince thinking about one thing for such an extended period of time before.

That evening, the king paid his son a visit in his chamber.

"Hello son," the king said, "I've come to pay you a visit, here, in your chamber."

Now why did that phrase sound familiar to me? It really grinds my soap to hear my characters copying my phrases. Wait…they're my characters, and my phrases, so does that mean that the characters are only stealing from themselves because I invented them both? Or does it mean that they're _both_ stealing from me? Now I'm confused…oh, sorry, I'm getting off track again.

"Hello father." Prince Simpell said. 

"I hear that you've been thinking about your course of action for the past hour or so."

"Oh yes. I've been thinking very hard. I've also been thinking about what I'm going to do now that Prince Lucid is king."

"Er…yes. Good." 

Einstein groaned inwardly from where he was putting wood into the fire. 

"I think, now that my brother is king and my father is not, I should leave." 

"Well, that's all very good Simpell, but where will you go?"

"I do not know, I haven't worked that out yet."

"What are you going to do with yourself?" The king asked.

"I don't know yet."

"Well, what _do_ you know so far?" His father asked, perplexed.

"I should leave." The prince said with resolute certainty.

"Oh. Well then." Father and son sat in silence, both thinking their own thoughts. Einstein flopped comfortably down by the hearth.

_What should I do?_ Thought the king. _God knows what will happen to him if I let him leave like this…then again, he is now simply an idle prince in a small Land. There is no place for him here. _ He looked at his son.

_Wow… _Prince Simpell thought. _Look at that bug crawling on that tapestry. I bet if it bit me, it would leave a big bump. Sheesh. It's huge. It has a spot on its back. A spot, like my horse's name. Spot. Wow that bug is big. _The prince blinked and shook his head, then looked back at his father.

"Well Son, if you choose to leave, then you shall do so."

"All right then," Simpell said, "I'll leave tomorrow."

"T-tomorrow? Isn't that quite soon?" The king asked.

"No, no, of course not."

"Where are you going?" The king bit back the desire to hug his son and beg him to stay. 

"To see other lands. I need to find my destiny." The prince rose from his chair and looked directly ahead, the position taken by all who are truly noble in children's' stories.

"Einstein," he asked, turning his head to look at Einstein, who sat contemplating the fire, "will you accompany me on my travels?"

"Well…" Einstein was considering his options when he saw the Look the king was sending in his direction.

"Sure, why not?" He gave an indifferent shrug. "I'll go pack."

***

Einstein and Simpell left early the next morning. Simpell's mount was a brown and white pony that answered to the name of Spot. Einstein rode Gallant, a large black stallion borrowed from the stables for this venture. 

"Well Einstein, we have much ahead of us." Simpell said conversationally.

"Yes Sire, we do. Many adventures probably await us. Does the prince hope to find a damsel, perhaps?"

"No, I'm not really thinking about that right now. Maybe I'll find a girl along with my adventures, but no damsels." 

"…Right." Einstein answered after a pause. 

"Hi ho Spot, away!" The pony reared once on its stubby legs, then shot off across the stretch of field, Gallant following closely behind. 

"Look Einstein!" The prince shouted. "The border!" He pointed to the fiery red line drawn on the ground.

Now hold it right there! The border wasn't supposed to come in until the next chapter! How dare those characters just plunge ahead like that-next thing you know they'll be telling you about the girl they meet! Oh, wait, I shouldn't have said that. Oh big deal, they meet a girl. You'll see. And yes, I am allowed to talk now, it's the end of the chapter. This is where the narrator gets to spout as she unplugs her characters and tucks them into bed…ok, done spouting. Tune in next time on the continuing adventures of 'The Simpell Voyagers'!

__


	2. alas, the first poor maiden is victimize...

Simpell and Einstein reached the border late in the afternoon.  
  
"Look Einstein!" The prince shouted. "The border!"  
  
Now how did you know that was coming? Could it be…my characters don't know when to stop? Probably. Oh well. I'm off track again.  
  
Einstein pulled Gallant to a halt and peered down at the line. It was about 6 inches thick, in a bright red, and stretched exactly straight in either direction, as far as the eye could see. Then he realized something strange was about…it was raining. On the far side of the line. He walked Gallant right up to the line, leaned out, and stuck his hand into the rain. It was wet. Yes, it was rain, nothing more, nothing less. A right downpour, too, falling straight down. He looked up. There was a distinct line between blue sky and gray clouds. He shook his head. Must be a border thing. Some tragedy must be happening in the other Land. He looked at the prince.  
  
"Well, Sire, shall we ride on? We've about an hour until dark."  
  
The prince sat back in the saddle and thought. Einstein's shoulders slumped. At the prince's thinking rate, he would decide by the next morning whether or not they should stop.  
  
"No. Let's ride now."  
  
Einstein jumped. Was the prince getting smarter, or was it just a fluke? He decided to ponder that later and stashed it away in the back of his brain, where he kept things like old socks and failed exams…  
  
Together, the horses jumped the line into the rain.  
  
***  
  
"So, highness, what sort of tragedy do you think is happening today?" Einstein asked conversationally.  
  
"Tragedy? What makes you think there's a tragedy?" Prince Simpell asked in bewilderment.  
  
"Well, it's raining. That usually happens when a tragedy has occurred, affecting a princess, or occasionally a poor woodcutter." Einstein explained.  
  
The prince threw back his head and chuckled. "My dear Einstein, you do have a lot to learn about these matters."  
  
"Whatever do you mean?" It was Einstein's turn to be bewildered.  
  
"It rains when something sad is happening. A tragedy indeed…" the prince went into another chuckling fit.  
  
"…Er…yes, sir." Einstein dropped back slightly to clear his puzzled mind. In the distance he could just barely see the top of a tall tower – a city was not too far away. The thought cheered him slightly…hot food, maybe a bath. The thought of these things grew nicer and nicer as over the next twenty minutes he got wetter and wetter.  
  
"Look there!" The prince shouted suddenly, reining in his horse and pointing ahead. Einstein nearly fell out of the saddle whilst trying to see what had his master so excited.  
  
"What?" He asked finally, not seeing anything.  
  
"There! A tall tower! There must be a maiden asleep in it!"  
  
"Oh, that. I saw that a quarter of an hour ago, at least." Einstein shrugged. "It's just part of a city or something, let's ride faster and we can get something to eat."  
  
"Damn your stomach, Einstein! We must rescue the maiden!"  
  
"What maiden?" Einstein was yet again bewildered.  
  
"The one asleep in the tower! Hi ho Spot, away!" And before Einstein could even fully comprehend what the prince was saying, he had ridden off on his round pony towards the tower. Einstein thought a moment more, then moaned and spurred Gallant after them.  
  
"Sire! Even if there is a maiden asleep in the tallest tower, what about it?"  
  
"We must rescue her!" Prince Simpell yelled again.  
  
"From what?" Einsten yelled back.  
  
"From sleep!"  
  
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS WRONG WITH SLEEP?" Einstein screamed. Alas, his words were lost as Prince Simpell and his stubby pony rode through the gates into the city.  
  
"Sorry, Gallant," Einstein muttered, urging his horse to run faster, "but we've got to catch them before they do something stupid." They rounded a corner and once again Einstein nearly fell from the saddle as he tried to stop before crashing into Spot, who was standing docilely in the road before them.  
  
"Sire!" Einstein gasped, looking round wildly.  
  
"Shh, not now, this young lady is telling me her troubles." Prince Simpell was seated on a bench, out of the rain, listening to a lovely young girl talk.  
  
"And (hiccup) there's just nothing (hiccup) that I can do!" She burst into fresh tears.  
  
"There there, it can't be all THAT bad!" Prince Simpell said mournfully.  
  
"Yes (hiccup) it can. I can sing beautifully – a gift from a fairy – and I'm pretty, and I'm smart – also gifts from fairies – but none of what I do is (hiccup) useful!" She burst into more fresh tears, the last ones having gone stale.  
  
"Well…what do you like to do?"  
  
"Well, I'm gifted in the artistic area – more fairy gifts – so I've grown up doing lots of arts and crafts."  
  
"Do you like to sew?" Prince Simpell asked.  
  
"Well, not particularly. Embroidery is all right, but that doesn't help anyone."  
  
"What about weave?"  
  
"Goodness no!" The princess's eyes grew wide. "That's ever so hard on your eyes. I would get…w…w…"  
  
"Go on, say it," the prince encouraged.  
  
"Wrinkles!" She burst into fresh tears. Einstein vaguely wondered what ruining your eyes had to do with wrinkles, but he thought it best not to ask.  
  
"Well…have you tried to spin? Making yarn is very useful, and it could help a lot of people!"  
  
"Hmmm…I've never tried to spin. I don't think that there is a spinning wheel in the entire city!"  
  
"Well, if you really want to help people, you'll find one." Prince Simpell said firmly.  
  
"What if I can't?" She hiccuped again.  
  
"Where there is a will, there is a way. You're rich, aren't you? You can pay someone to make one!"  
  
Einstein began to worry. He had heard stories about this girl. He cleared his throat gently.  
  
"Er…Sire…perhaps there is a reason for-"  
  
"Einstein, just this afternoon we discussed how much you have yet to learn. Do let me handle this, please." The prince was in a snotty mood. Einstein could only roll his eyes and hope that nothing bad came to the girl.  
  
"Well, there, it's all settled. You're going to go find a spinning wheel even if it kills you, and that way you can help people." The prince stood up, grinning broadly.  
  
"Thank you ever so much!" The princess said, looking much happier now. She then remembered that she was supposed to be incredibly virginal while at the same moment being incredibly alluring, so she adjusted the neckline of her gown and stood very close to the prince and invited him to dinner.  
  
"So sorry!" Einstein interrupted, grabbing the Prince by the arm. "We have our reservations at an inn all set."  
  
"An inn?" The princess asked, face falling.  
  
"Yes." Einstein said firmly. "Three towns over. Let's go, Sire."  
  
"Goodbye, fair damsel!" Prince Simpell called woefully as he was forced onto his horse and down the street.  
  
HAH! They didn't give anything away that time! And I didn't ramble! *Feels incredibly proud* So once again, I unplug the characters and give them dessert for being so well behaved…even though they stole from me in chapter one…stay tuned for chapter three! 


End file.
